On crossovers we will go to the famous Astrakhan dune Big Brother? Come on – in those places even prepared SUVs get stuck, and here is the Chinese Chery Tiggo 8 Pro Max. Thanks at least that now with all-wheel drive, because the rest of the crossovers of the Tiggo line in Russia are exclusively front-wheel drive.
A small retouching of the front bumper and grille can be overlooked. But at the back, the Pro Max version is easily identified by the twin exhaust pipes. The funny thing is that this is not a props. Although the two-liter turbo four F4J20 of the Acteco series, according to the passport, produces a modest 197 hp. – on machines for the Chinese market, the same motor, designed with the help of the Austrian engineering company AVL, develops 254 hp. What, you also thought regarding chip tuning?
An hour drive towards Kalmykia – and I am in the natural scenery of the Sahara. Built from the sand by the wind, they beckon with their gentle slopes, behind which the cliffs treacherously hide. I almost blew from one of these, trying to go to the ridge: gas in the floor, and a fold in the dunes opens just a couple of meters away. It’s gone!
It is clear that before the exit to the dunes, I turned on the most off-road 4×4 mode (there is also a light Ground) and forcibly selected the first gear. There seems to be enough traction, but that’s bad luck: as soon as you pick up speed, the engine spins up to 5000 rpm – and … Everything that is acquired by overwork goes into the sand. The box switches to the second one, there is a pause, there is not enough moment, the electronics once more turn on the first one, but the car has almost stopped.
The shot was taken on the square of the Sarai-Batu film town, built for the filming of the film “Horde” (2012), five kilometers from the excavation site of the real capital of the Golden Horde (XIII century AD) and 140 km from Astrakhan
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